Extreme Rhetoric: Far-right Political Posters in Europe

Patrícia PAIXAO

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This research aims to analyse far-right political posters in Europe in the last few years. Much of the discussion regarding far-right parties in Europe has been triggered by their campaign posters. In the last few years, strong imagery and symbols have appeared in these parties? posters. Along history, posters have been a witness of Europe?s political and cultural events, but also of social needs and activities. Recent campaigns, like Barack Obama?s 2008 one (where street art and designers such as Robert Indiana or Frank Shepard Fairey helped launching the ?Obama art?) came to prove that the aesthetic contribution still matters. If not always ?aesthetic contribution? far-right posters seem to have brought back some visual difference in the political sphere. However, what do these innovations represent and mean? Could they be considered aesthetic contributions, or just powerful persuasive tools? One of the triggers that might have started turning attentions towards far-right posters? might have been the Swiss People?s Party poster for the Minaret ban in Switzerland, with the work of the designer Alexander Segert. While thinking about these images, and comparing them to other parties? campaigns, we should also keep in mind that one of their goals might also be to shock, especially in a society where religious fundamentalism has seem to be growing. This work will focus and analyse posters used by the Swiss People?s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP), Italian North League (Lega Nord, LN), Portuguese National Renovator Party (Partido Nacional Renovador, PNR) and French National Front (Front National, FN). The choice of the parties analysed in this research, and consequently their posters, fell upon the frequency of the representation of certain themes and their visual and textual relevance, but also their presence in the media and other communication sources. The posters of LN, SVP, PNR and FN stood out, in one way or another, from others posters present in their own parties, or even in other parties with the same ideological stances in Europe. Is the power of poster related to its ?political (in)correct? characteristic? If so, how has this characteristic been used by the far-right and counter-propaganda side? Taking into account that ?political incorrectness? is usually attributed to counter-movements, how has the far-right and their opponents been able to go around this? This research will try to identify which are the kinds of propaganda and rhetoric used by the far-right in their posters and why they became so popular, and even, which are the reactions from these ?other politicians? or from the society at large. Could a sameness from the far-right in Europe be visible through these posters? If so, in what way and what does it mean? How has society been responding to messages that could be described as racist or xenophobic? Finally, where does an apparent outdated medium find space (and through which methods) in our modern cyberculture?

Abstract:

This research aims to analyse far-right political posters in Europe in the last few years. Much of the discussion regarding far-right parties in Europe has been triggered by their campaign posters. In the last few years, strong imagery and symbols have appeared in these parties? posters. Along history, posters have been a witness of Europe?s political and cultural events, but also of social needs and activities. Recent campaigns, like Barack Obama?s 2008 one (where street art and designers such as Robert Indiana or Frank Shepard Fairey helped launching the ?Obama art?) came to prove that the aesthetic contribution still matters. If not always ?aesthetic contribution? far-right posters seem to have brought back some visual difference in the political sphere. However, what do these innovations represent and mean? Could they be considered aesthetic contributions, or just powerful persuasive tools? One of the triggers that might have started turning attentions towards far-right posters? might have been the Swiss People?s Party poster for the Minaret ban in Switzerland, with the work of the designer Alexander Segert. While thinking about these images, and comparing them to other parties? campaigns, we should also keep in mind that one of their goals might also be to shock, especially in a society where religious fundamentalism has seem to be growing. This work will focus and analyse posters used by the Swiss People?s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP), Italian North League (Lega Nord, LN), Portuguese National Renovator Party (Partido Nacional Renovador, PNR) and French National Front (Front National, FN). The choice of the parties analysed in this research, and consequently their posters, fell upon the frequency of the representation of certain themes and their visual and textual relevance, but also their presence in the media and other communication sources. The posters of LN, SVP, PNR and FN stood out, in one way or another, from others posters present in their own parties, or even in other parties with the same ideological stances in Europe. Is the power of poster related to its ?political (in)correct? characteristic? If so, how has this characteristic been used by the far-right and counter-propaganda side? Taking into account that ?political incorrectness? is usually attributed to counter-movements, how has the far-right and their opponents been able to go around this? This research will try to identify which are the kinds of propaganda and rhetoric used by the far-right in their posters and why they became so popular, and even, which are the reactions from these ?other politicians? or from the society at large. Could a sameness from the far-right in Europe be visible through these posters? If so, in what way and what does it mean? How has society been responding to messages that could be described as racist or xenophobic? Finally, where does an apparent outdated medium find space (and through which methods) in our modern cyberculture?

Keywords

Political Posters, Propaganda, Far-Right in Europe, Visual Rhetoric, Political Rhetoric, Manipulation, Persuasion, Design, Counter-Propaganda, Public Space, Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Semiotics.

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 19. 5. 2011

Identifier: 141085

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Mgr. Martin Elbel, Ph.D.

PALACKÝ UNIVERSITY IN OLOMOUC

Philosophical Faculty

Master programme / field:
Cultural Studies / Euroculture